Monday, July 1, 2013

TDF 2013: And they're off!

If you're a spinner, you're probably well aware that the Tour de Fleece started on Saturday.

If you're not a spinner AND haven't been following my blog, then you probably don't know WTH I'm talking about. But, basically, it boils down to this...

During the whole time of the Tour de France, spinners all over the world are getting on their spinning wheels (and drop spindles), and spinning while the bicyclists ride. Why spinning? Because spinning wheels have, well, wheels, and bikes have wells. Ergo, Tour De Fleece.

Each spinner picks a "goal" for the whole tour. It can be something as simple as spinning and watching the race, spinning 10 minutes a day, or maybe spin a pound of fiber. The tour de fleece is meant as a challenge.

This year, I'm spinning part of a hogget merino fleece into a nice 3-2 cabled yarn. My primary goal is to spin 6 ounces and get it plied. My secondary goal is to spin 12 ounces into singles.

My plan? Spin 72 WPI singles, that will then be plied into a 36 WPI 2-ply, which then ply the 2ply into a 3-ply cabled yarn. (It's a lot of plying!)

The race started on Saturday, but on that weekend, we had a veritable heatwave. The kind were you find yourself "melting". Between the humidity and the heat, I was only able to spin about 1/2 ounce into fine singles. Having wool in your hands in this heat was not a good combination (esp. when I don't have air conditioning in the house!)

For those in the Tour-de-Fleece, good luck! Let me know how your spinning goes!